Manley Hot Springs – A Retreat from the City Life

My in-laws have bought a cabin in Manley Hot Springs – their haven from the bustling city life of Fairbanks.    It’s their secret hideaway.  Their quite place on the slough (where children do go swimming without wetsuits!).  It’s literally at the end of the road.  Manley Hot Springs is the westernmost location you can drive to in the United States.

My mother-in-law claims she’d like to live there and come into “the city” every now and then!  Note: It is a 3-hour long, uncomfortable drive along dirt roads filled with potholes from Fairbanks to Manley.  Yet, Manley is a charming small town (the 2000 census determined a population of 72) where one can really feel a sense of belonging and community.  I really didn’t know what to expect when I went there.  What I found was a little neighborhood of quaint cabins, a couple of public buildings (a roadhouse/restaurant, post office/store and school/library), peaceful waters and chirping birds.  It reminded me of a permanent campground.  Although, the campgrounds I went to as a kid all had bathrooms with running water for showers and toilets.  In Manley, unless you go to the roadhouse, you get outhouses – a big wooden bench (that was vexingly too tall for me!) with a hole in it that you have to put your shoes on to get to!  Or you could opt for an indoor port-o-pot.  Either way, you’re roughing it!

I really can’t believe people accept outhouses as normal!

But at least you have a pretty view while you hike to the bathroom.

There’s all sorts of abandoned treasures to find in Manley, like this food cache – at least that’s what I think it is.

For fun, one can go for a walk through downtown and stop and talk to the local townspeople who are out and about on foot, dirt bike or four-wheeler.  My big stop was buying candy at the small store/post-office!

The airport is always fun to visit and look around.

Or you can drop in at the old school house, which took me back to Anne of Green Gables and childhood.

But my most favorite activity is peaking in the windows at the locked-up and closed Northern Commercial store.  It’s jam packed full of vintage goodies just sitting there unused and unappreciated!  I was all in favor of calling together a town meeting to petition the store owners to hold a yard sale!  Manley is a great place to find antiques.  When my in-laws bought their cabin they inherited most of the cabin’s furnishings including several really nice anituques, which I regretfully forgot to photograph!  As it was my first time in Manley, however, I decided to wait until my next visist to stir things up.  I’m guessing this town isn’t too fond of change.

The slough runs into the Tanana River, which one can also walk to in Manley.  I was surprised by how wide the river is!

The natives in Manley live off of this river.  It’s where they catch their samlon – including the best-ever king salmon!  We had the special honor of watching one native family filet and brine their salmon in preparation for smoking and canning.  They had it down to an art!

Below is a photo of a fish wheel on the Tanana.  The natives use it to catch lots of fish at one time.  They float the wheel in the water and it spins as the fish swim into either of the two scoops.

As the fish are scooped up and the wheel spins, the fish fall into a trough…

which then dumps the fish into a collecting bin at the base of the fish wheel.  Pretty cool, huh?  Betcha you wish you could use on of those!  I know I do – did you read my last post about fishing?!

By far, the crown of the Manley metropolis is the Historic Manley Roadhouse, built in 1906 when gold mining was taking off in the area.

At the roadhouse, you can stay in a typical “hotel room” or rent one of three super cute cabins.  I’d go for the cabin myself.

The roadhouse is nothing short of a hot spot in Manley.  And how could it not be with it’s fabulous decor, drinks and dining?

You could sit in this room for hours just looking at everything…

But don’t forget to have dinner – we chose to sit at the bar where all the action is and one can catch up on all the local news.  The food was great and the service was even better.   I can see why eating here is one of my in-laws’ favorite things to do in Manley.  But then again, they love everything about their home away from home.  I’ll enjoy visiting them, but I could never live that far off the beaten path – I already feel like I live on the frontier!  Alaskans’ strong desire to get away from it all never ceases to amaze me.

I’m saving the ultimate tourist attraction in Manley – something my in-laws haven’t even done! – for my next post so check back tomorrow!

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